W. Soccer: Kaiser goal keys Quakers' NCAA bid

In a showdown between the two top teams in the Ivy League, neither Penn nor Princeton could find the net through 90 minutes.

Coach Darren Ambrose told his team before overtime, "When someone gets the ball wide, get in front of the goalkeeper and you'll get one."

Sure enough, less than three minutes into the extra frame, sophomore forward Mara Fintzi's cross from the right corner was sent home by a header from freshman forward Kristin Kaiser, giving Penn a 1-0 victory and a share of the Ivy League title for only the second time in school history.

The Quakers (12-3-1 5-1 Ivy,) also clinched the league's automatic bid into the NCAA College Cup with some help from Yale, which defeated Brown 3-1 yesterday.

"I couldn't be happier for our kids," Ambrose said after the game. "I'm just so proud of them. They've worked so hard and they deserve nothing less."

Seeing his team unable to come up with a breakthrough despite dominating the second half, Ambrose added a small wrinkle to try to create a spark for his team. He decided to give sophomore forward Jessica Fuccello, Penn's leading scorer, a rest to begin overtime, replacing his best scorer with the freshman, Kaiser.

"[Ambrose] told me to warm up before overtime and what was going through my mind was just 'oh my God, I have to get in there. I have to prove myself,'" Kaiser said.

Kaiser said Ambrose gave her two objectives coming into the match, one of which was to get on the end of a cross.

Princeton senior goalkeeper Maren Dale had been solid all game defending crosses coming into the box, but Kaiser managed to get inside position and head the ball in.

Through the first 45 minutes, Penn looked to be the less-composed and less-dangerous side. Princeton created two scoring chances that caused the packed Rhodes Field crowd to collectively hold its breath.

The most threatening came early in the match when Princeton's Aarti Jain got past Penn goalie Sara Rose, who had come 15 yards out of goal. Ellen Gregory got in front of Jain's shot and helped clear the danger.

Seeing his team struggle to gain composure through the first half, Ambrose told his team at halftime, "Don't be overcome with emotion."

He even changed the Quakers' strategy, encouraging them to flick balls into open space more often instead of trying to play perfect soccer.

"It changed the game because [the Tigers] were always on their heels, whereas in the first half, balls got played in front of them and they picked them off and just kept going at us," he said.

The change proved effective as Penn dominated possession in the second half, not allowing Princeton to generate much of anything on offense.

Captain Natalie Capuano played a big part in turning things around, helping to keep Canadian national team member Diana Matheson at bay.

Though the Quakers were in control for nearly the entire half, they failed to create any serious scoring threats and would have to wait until overtime to finally break through.

Now with an automatic NCAA bid already in the bank, all that remains for the Quakers is clinching an outright Ivy championship. A tie or win at Harvard next weekend would bring the program its first-ever outright crown.

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